Ten Clark State students will spend their summer immersed in learning how to keep future employers safe as part of the Clark State Community College Summer 2014 Cyber Security Internship and Externship Program.

The program is being funded by a National Science Foundation grant and is being supplemented by resources from OhioMeansJobs. The students will work at Riverside Research, LexisNexis Group, AT&T and Peerless Technologies during the day and attend classes at Clark State’s Beavercreek campus in the evening learning the theory behind the practical applications they are exposed to.

"The goal of this program is to expose our students to the growing field of cyber security and challenge them with practical projects that have been identified by professionals in the community," said Dale Rude, Clark State adjunct and internship coordinator. "A secondary goal is to establish externships for our faculty to enhance their knowledge by exposing them to real-world challenges that companies are facing. This learning will be brought back into the classroom to advance the program and make our students even more marketable."

The student interns include Michael Stachler, Shaun Foor, William Johnson, Troy Raines, Fenton Harrison, Alex Fryman, William Burr, J. Sam Coons, Audrey McDaniel and Keith Carrier.

Clark State faculty members who are participating in the externship include Dan Heighton, Greg Teets, Ronda Black, Jerome Murray and adjuncts Cathy Balas and Dale Rude. The program will begin on May 27 and culminate on August 1, 2014, with a presentation on lessons learned and future research opportunities discovered.